


Homeworld

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, F/F, They get kidnapped for real, but this is after jail break, enjoy, pearlmethyst - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-11-26
Packaged: 2018-04-22 19:27:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4847486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The gems are kidnapped by the Homeworld gems. It's time to put themselves back together and fight their way out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter was short but they'll get longer

            “Well we can’t kill them on the spot now?” The angry words were swimming through her head and she sat up and looked around, panicked. “Yellow Diamond probably wants to talk to them now that they’ve caused us _this_ much trouble!” Peridot was frantically waving her arms around as she shouted and Pearl watched with interest as the exchange continued.

            “What? Yellow Diamond wants a runt, a defect, and some _fusion_?” It was Jasper and she cringed as she heard the voice. “Not to mention what Rose Quartz has become! I say we kill them now.”

            “Just…keep them alive. We can’t risk the wrath of Yellow Diamond.” Peridot said and turned around just as she slumped against the wall and pretended to be asleep. She heard footsteps go in opposite directions, hitting on the steel with force and then it was silent. Everything was perfectly still.

            “Amethyst?” She called quietly; trying to move and then realizing her hands and feet were bound. “Garnet? Steven?”

            There was no other sound but her breathing and she leaned back against the wall. How had she let this happen? How were they all captured?

            “P, is that you?” The voice was soft and scratchy like it had been dragged over gravel.

            “Amethyst! Are you alright?”

            “Dude my head _kills_.”

            “Are you tied up too?”

            “…Yeah. And I don’t know where Steven is! Damn it, they probably still think he’s Rose Quartz or some shit.”

            “Amethyst I’m sure everything is fine.” Her voice was shaking as she said it. Even she couldn’t believe that blatant of a lie.

            “Everything is fine?” The voice echoed around the space. “Last I checked everything is _not_ fine! The Homeworld has captured us; we’re probably going to be executed when we get back. Garnet probably is split up again and Ruby and Sapphire are probably pretty far apart because _god_ _forbid they fuse_. Not to even mention what they might do to Steven!” She heard Amethyst choke back a sob. “Everything is _not fine!_ ”

            “I’m not stupid, Amethyst! I know exactly how much trouble we’re in!”

            They both fell silent. “I’m sorry for what happened before this all happened.”

            Pearl’s mind was trying to move, trying to think past the situation. What had happened before she had woken up here? Everything seemed blurry and out of focus like a bad camera lens. How had they ended up here in the first place? Why were the Homeworld gems on Earth? Everything had been all right up until then.

            “I can’t remember.” Pearl gasped, her eyes wide. “I can’t remember anything before right now.”

            “Hey. Hey P, stay with me here.” Amethyst’s voice was wavering. “You’re here, right now. Stay with me.”

            Her breathing was shallow and the walls felt like they were closing in. Everything was a blurry mess, her vision was running together, and her mind was reeling. “I can’t remember, I can’t remember.” Her voice was a splintered cry as she said it and looked around wildly as if her memories would be written on the wall.

            “Pearl!” Amethyst shouted. “Pearl we are somewhere. We are somewhere. The Homeworld gems kidnapped us. Pearl, focus on my voice. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.”

            “You just said it wouldn’t be!”

            “Yeah, maybe it won’t be okay but _stay with me_.”

            “I can’t, I can’t.” Her voice was still a shadow of what it used to be. “I can’t, I don’t know.”

            “Pearl _please_.” Her voice was begging as she said it.

            “Amethyst where are we?” Everything was hollow nothing was real. She could fall through the floor if she wanted to, she could break these bonds. She could escape right now because none of this could possibly be real. “This isn’t real.”

            “We’re kidnapped, Pearl. This is real, this is very real.”

            “This is just a dream, Amethyst. We’ll wake up, you’re probably watching it right now!” Her voice was a hysterical laughter. “Nothing is real.”

            “Pearl!” In one final effort she raised her voice, slamming her head into the wall, making an echoing banging sound. “Pearl this is real! Everyone is gone to who knows where! We’ve only got each other and I will be damned if you leave me now! So this is very real and I know you can’t remember, but please just stay with me.”

            “I’m scared.” It was a moment of vulnerability and she curled herself further into herself as she said it. The moment it left her lips she regretted it, regretted the way she had admitted it and shown her weakness. She had played all of her cards.

            “Hey, it’s alright.” Amethyst’s voice was quiet again. “So am I.”

            Pearl sniffed. “Amethyst, what happened?”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the support! I do have school so my updates aren't super consistent I'm sorry.

            She was asleep again. She pried her eyes open and looked around warily, only to find herself in the exact same position she fell asleep in. She looked around only to find herself still utterly trapped in this hellhole. What was making it worse was that her muscles were cramping up, her arms crushed to her sides and her legs bound to one another making it extremely inefficient to move.

            “Amethyst?” Her voice still sounded awful. “Amethyst are you still here?” Her voice was shaking now. Had they left her alone? Had they left her in this cello alone? Had they taken Amethyst?

            “Hey, P.” The voice was a whisper, shrouded in shadow and practically inaudible. “You alright?”

            “I think I fell asleep.”

            “Yeah.”

            “Amethyst I’m not sure why you’re apologizing. I don’t remember how we got here, but it-it surely can’t be your fault.”

            “Don’t you remember Pearl?” Amethyst cried. “Don’t you remember that it _is_ my fault? You came to rescue me! You all came to rescue me all because _I was so stupid and blind_ you came to rescue me and now I’m here, and you’re here and what good is that going to do anyone?” She let out a dry laugh. “Now we’re all screwed Pearl and it’s all because of me.”

            “Do you think the fact that you got kidnapped is your fault?” Pearl asked.

            “Yeah, I do! I was the one stupid enough to entertain their ideas, their motives. I was the one stupid enough to think they’d just let me leave! Pearl you have no idea!”

            “Amethyst what happened?”

            “What’s the last thing you remember?”

            She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing her brain to work and try and think back to the last thing she remembered clearly… She could scrape up the memory of Steven eating waffles and she was sitting on the couch, no lying on the couch and she was thinking about something…what was she thinking about?

            “I remember…I remember I was on the couch. I was on the couch back home and I; I think I was thinking about you. I was thinking about…” A tear slipped out from her eye as she remember staring at the ceiling, her arms folded over her stomach plotting her revenge. “I was thinking about every way I was going to hurt them, the way they hurt me when they kidnapped you.”

            The silence was deafening, the only noise was the dull sound of an engine somewhere. The silence was crushing her very soul.

            “P, that’s pretty intense.” Amethyst said. “Are you making this up? Just to try to get me to like you?”

            She was shaking her head, but Amethyst couldn’t see that. She was also crying, but Amethyst couldn’t see that either. Amethyst couldn’t hear the way her heart pounded when she thought of her and she couldn’t see the way she had frantically scoured the city the moment she had gone missing. Amethyst couldn’t see that this wasn’t a joke; she couldn’t see that she truly needed her now she needed her forever.

            “P, you okay?”

            “Amethyst you don’t understand.” Her voice was rough and quiet again. “You don’t understand what it’s like, to look at someone and see everything in them and know it’ll never be like that. You don’t understand that I would rip every single one of them apart for you, I would rip every single one of them apart just to make sure you were okay because I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

            There was a brief silence and Pearl hung her head, letting the sadness wash over her. It was just easier not to have feelings, not to think about this. It was easier not to think about her and everything that had happened, it was just so much easier without everything…

            “Do you have a little crush, P?” Amethyst teased.

            “Amethyst!”

            “I’m being serious, you know. What is this?”

            “I don’t know! I don’t know, Amethyst! All I know is that, there’s something there. I don’t know what it is, but I can feel it. _Something is here_ and I don’t know what to do and I always know what to do, but now I don’t! If you could help me here, help me figure this out if you could help me understand for one moment everything that’s going through my head!”

            “Did you love her?”

            “What?”

            “Did you love Rose?” Her voice was splintering, demanding the truth.

            “Yes.”

            “And what do you feel now?”

            “Amethyst you’re not helping! I just told you, that I don’t know!”

            “Pearl I think that’s bullshit and I know you think that’s bullshit. I don’t know, try to explain it maybe?”

            “I can’t imagine doing this without you.”

            Suddenly there was an agonized screech from Amethyst’s side and Pearl’s heart jumped into her throat as tears appeared in her eyes. The last thing she remembered before blacking out was her mouth forming the word _‘No’_.

* * *

 

            “Son of a…” Her voice stops when she tries to stand, but finds she can’t. She’s alone. She’s painfully aware of the fact that she is alone and she is alone and bound and _where is Sapphire?_ It’s all painfully obvious now, painfully obvious what happened, and it was such a glaring oversight what happened.

            _Amethyst is gone_. That was the beginning of all of this. She had gone missing and Pearl had just…lost it. Pearl had gone over the edge and she, no _they_ had thought she was crazy, delusional even. They had brushed her off and then declared themselves the winter when Amethyst came back. Amethyst always came back.

            They were able to declare themselves the winner until the Homeworld gems had shown up and kidnapped her and all she could see, as Pearl desperately fought for the smaller gem was everything she would’ve done for Sapphire in a heartbeat and without any hesitation and it began to click into place. They had gone home and at that moment they had realized that they couldn’t declare themselves the winner after what had happened. They couldn’t declare themselves the winner after _Pearl_ disappeared.

            “I thought you would’ve woken up sooner.” The voice is quiet and lilting and Ruby looked up to see Lapis kneeling in the corridor outside of her cell. “I think you know who I am.”

            “ _You_ are the reason we’re here!”

            Lapis was silent. “I know.” She said finally, not meeting the other gem’s eyes.

            “Then why are you even here?”

            “I know where your friends are.”

 

* * *

 

            _Pearl was beyond broken. She was hopeless and broken, silently plotting her revenge. Finally she crawled out onto the roof of the house and stared at the stars, and thought about everything they meant to her. She realized that those stars were no longer her home. She realized that for centuries she had looked up to the sky and saw her home; saw a place she could go back to one day. Now all she could see was the fear in Amethyst’s eyes as the Warp Pad glowed with power, now all she could hear was Yellow Diamond’s chilling laugh. Pearl felt like she was consumed by it, it felt like Amethyst was consuming everything now and it was questioning everything she had strived for._

_So when she began plotting her revenge, it started with the sky._

_They weren’t planning to execute it when they did. It had happened suddenly, without warning. There was a ship in the sky again, even larger than the last one and she had seen it and at that moment she knew this was the moment where she could save Amethyst or she could lose her._

_It was that moment that had cost her so much more than Amethyst._

_They attacked the ship, they boarded it successfully, luring it to the ground and then sneaking on, running through the halls, Steven close to Garnet. She was looking for any signs of life, anything that would tell her that Amethyst was still there, still fighting._

_“I knew you’d come.” It was the voice that had never left her head since the first time she had heard it._

_It also happened to be the last thing she heard before she collapsed to the ground._

 

* * *

 

            She was sleeping way too much. Pearl had decided that much when her eyes opened again after she had blacked out. Then she remembered exactly why she had blacked out.

            “Amethyst!” She cried. “Amethyst are you alright?”

            “I wanted to try something.”

            “Like what?”

            “I flung myself into the force field to see if it would break my bonds. Figured it was worth a shot.”

            “And?”

            “It worked.”

            Pearl smiled and let out a slightly hysterical laugh. “You flung yourself into a force field on a hunch?”

            “Duh. It’s going to hurt when you do it, but it’ll wear off in a little bit.”

            “How long was I out?”

            “Huh?”

            “I think I blacked out when you screamed.”

            “I’m not sure, P. It didn’t seem like you blacked out to me.”

            “So you’re suggesting I fling myself into the force field which could possibly severely injure me?”

            “Yeah.”

            _What the hell_ was her last conscious thought before she did it.

 


	3. Chapter 3

             _She had found herself in Amethyst’s room, her face scrunched together as she stared the piles. Did Amethyst’s find comfort in the mess here? If she did, she truly couldn’t see how, it was such an unfathomable mess that she probably wouldn’t be able to find her left arm if she ever were to lose it in here._

_“You trying to organize again?” She turned her head as Amethyst walked towards her and eventually stood next to her. “You know how well that’s going to work.”_

_Pearl sighed and felt the back of her hand brushed against Amethyst’s and her arm tingled. It had gone on for weeks like this; their hands casually brushing together and then pulling apart, almost like magnets._

_“That doesn’t mean I won’t try. This place is a complete disaster.”_

_Amethyst laughed a little bit. “Pearl I think we should… I think we could practice forming Opal. In case Steven ever needs us, needs help. Both of our forms with Garnet are too unstable to even consider using any time soon and I just…I want to be able to protect Steven from Yellow Diamond if it ever comes down to that.”_

_“Amethyst what makes you think that you wouldn’t be able to protect Steven?” She knelt down and began stacking assorted objects into piles that resembled a built Jenga tower. “We both know that you’re more than capable.”_

_“I just don’t want to feel helpless, Pearl. I want to be useful.”_

_“You are useful Amethyst! And why do you need this old sandwich anyways?” She grimaced as she tossed it aside._

_“That could’ve been useful.”_

_“But it wasn’t.”_

_Amethyst sighed. “It wasn’t.”_

_“We shouldn’t form Opal unless we have to.” Pearl had stopped trying to organize the pile and was instead sitting on the floor, her legs crossed as she sat on the floor and looked at Amethyst. Even when she was sitting, she was still eye level with Amethyst._

_“What if we can’t when we have to?”_

_“I don’t see why you’re worrying about this because you shouldn’t.”_

_Amethyst leaned closer, trying to gain a little leverage. “But I do worry about it Pearl! I worry that if it’s going to come down to protecting Steven that I’m not going to be able to! I worried that I’m going to let all of you down, that I’m going to get Steven hurt! I have no choice but to worry about this Pearl, don’t you understand? I’m always worried about this stuff.”_

_Pearl picked up what looked like a broken computer monitor and then set it down after wringing her hands together. She felt her hand come up and brush the hair off of Amethyst’s face, looking her in the eye. “I believe in you.” She whispered._

_Amethyst was rattled by the intimacy of the moment, the delicacy of the situation. She was rattled by the Pearl’s hand was resting on the side of her face, cool and smooth against her face. She leaned into the touch almost instinctively and Pearl looked away, a blush spreading across her face as she withdrew her hand and looked at the ground._

_“I should go.” She whispered quietly and slipped out of the room like she wasn’t there in the first place._

_What have I done? The thought rattled around her head as she escaped back into the living room, watching Steven stare at the television and giggling. She was thinking about what Amethyst had said, what she had said about protecting him and being strong enough to. They would have to be strong enough because failure wouldn’t be an option._

* * *

 

_It was another late night of books open around her. The house was dark and Steven was asleep so she was sitting outside on the beach, poring over more books she had gotten from the library. She enjoyed the silence that she found outside._

_“Whatcha looking at?” The voice made her jump. She looked around frantically before her eyes landed on a purple crab._

_“Amethyst!”_

_The crab shifted into Amethyst sitting in front of her. “I’m being serious. What are you reading?”_

_“History books.” She shrugged before turning the page. “I’m trying to get different perspectives on the Romans and how they lived. Their society is so fascinating and how it was almost completely harmonious for so long. They conquered nearly all of Europe and some of the architecture is still around today. If we went to Europe we could…” She trailed off when she saw Amethyst blankly looking at her. “I’m sorry.”_

_“Nah, P. I think we could go to Europe one day. Maybe.”_

_“I’d love to, we haven’t been back in so long!”_

_“The King of England actually did something last time we were in Europe.”_

_Pearl laughed a little bit and then stopped. “I think you’re right.”_

_“About the king?”_

_“About Opal.”_

_“Pearl, I’m sorry that’s my fault. Just forget it, it’s no big deal.”_

_“But you’re right. We need to be able to protect Steven.”_

_“Pearl I don’t want you doing this because you feel bad or anything.”_

_“I’m not doing it because I feel bad! I’m doing this because I think you’re right!” She slammed the book shut and stood up, towering over Amethyst who was still sitting on the sand._

_She extended her hand and Amethyst took it gently, standing up to face the other gem. Pearl pulled her into a tight hug and then released her. There was no talking, no music, no sound. Silence blanketed the beach and as Pearl extended her arm and their fingertips brushed together._

_Maybe this was why they had stopped forming Opal. She was afraid of this much intimacy, the silence, being close to someone. Maybe she was the reason why this didn’t happen more often. She couldn’t really remember why and it didn’t really matter when they were staring at each other, connected by the tips of their fingers._

_It also didn’t really matter when they were moving closer until they were right in front of each other again and her lips were brushing against Amethyst’s. It was like everything else that day had been, it was quiet and safe and when she pulled away she couldn’t say anything._

_She backpedaled away, her fingers lightly trailing across her lips as she tripped on the sand, staring at Amethyst. That’s when Amethyst had run. That’s when she was alone on the beach again with herself and the books._

* * *

 

            “When did they contact you?” Pearl was stretching out and pacing in the cell.

            “I dunno, can’t really remember. It was a couple days before what happened.”

            “So you thought the best option would to be to talk to the enemy?”

            “I’m sorry Pearl! I ran and it was stupid and now we’re here.”

            “What was stupid?”

            “Everything! Everything was so stupid!”

            “Amethyst I don’t think _everything_ you did was stupid.”

            “Don’t screw around Pearl, we need to get out of here.”

            “I’m not screwing around. Have you seen anyone other than Jasper or Peridot?”

            “No I haven’t. Maybe Lapis is here, but we can’t be sure.”

            Pearl sighed and rolled her shoulders back. They were probably going to be here awhile.

            “Do you think they’re going to come back for you and question you?”

            “I haven’t talked to anyone is weeks, P. I can’t be sure.”

            “I hate this feeling. I hate feeling hopeless.”

            “Me too.”

            That’s when they heard it. They heard the footfalls and froze until a shadow rounded the corner. Yellow Diamond towered over Peridot and Jasper, her gaze making Pearl want to shrink away.

            “Which one are we taking?” Peridot asked, glancing up at her.

            “We’re taking the runt. Leave the other one here.”

            “No!” The word was forced out of Pearl’s voice as she stopped short of the force field, watching Jasper drag Amethyst out, before binding her hands together. Amethyst glanced back at Pearl, her eyes wide. “You can’t do this!”

            Yellow Diamond laughed and looked at Pearl, who was shocked when she looked in her eyes and saw nothing but the piercing color. “Of course I can.”

            Amethyst smiled weakly. “Love you.” She whispered hoarsely before being dragged off by the trio.

            Her fist hit the wall, the sound echoing in the small space. She shook her hand out, biting her lip and blinking tears out of her eyes. She couldn’t be gone. They couldn’t have just _taken_ her. She was gone. They had come back for Amethyst after all. They had come back and just taken her…

            Suddenly the buzzing of the force field stopped and she looked up, frightened. When she saw who it was, she let out a sigh of relief.

            “We need to get you out of here.” Lapis said, grabbing her wrist. “I found one of yours I think, the small angry one. Ruby? I don’t know, but we need to get out of here right now.”

            “They took Amethyst.” She said. “Do you know where?”

            “They don’t tell me that much.”

            “Where’s Steven?”

            Lapis smiled a little. “I think I can help with that.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hate me. They do find Steven in the next chapter, I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die.  
> You can find me on Tumblr at machinerisms.tumblr.com or stickfigurepearlmethyst.tumblr.com


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early chapter! Kinda short, but I was really in the mood to write it.

            “You know where Steven is?” Her voice was shaking, her hand desperately wrapped around Lapis’s as she followed her down the hallway. “Is he alright?”

            The blue gem didn’t turn around when she answered. “They send me…to talk to him during the day. Keep him company I guess. I think it’s because they sent Jasper in…”

            Pearl gasped. “What happened?”

            “Oh no, nothing she just got so fed up that she left. They send me to talk to him instead. At first they kept him alone, but his voice drove Yellow Diamond absolutely nuts. He sings a lot, did you know that?”

            Pearl nodded wordlessly, tears streaming down her face. “I did know he could sing.”

            “He’s lovely.” Lapis said as they turned a corner.

            “You said you had Ruby I think?”

            “She’s in there right now with him. Is there another one?” Lapis glanced up at the ceiling before dragging Pearl low to the ground with her, slowly moving across the cold floor.

            “Amethyst was just taken, but Sapphire she has to be somewhere.”

            “I found you two first. They’ve been watching you for a long time, but they weren’t watching Ruby. I let her out first and then I had to wait for the other one to be taken away before we could retrieve you.”

            “Won’t they find us with Steven?”

            They crawled off the ground and were now standing in front of two large double doors. They were yellowing with spiraling green diamonds adorning them. Pearl stood in front of them, wide eyes with disbelief.

            Lapis pushed open the doors and entered a large open room. She shut the doors behind them and Pearl surveyed the room. It was about as tall as it was wide, the ceiling too large to be remotely practical. The room was almost empty, save for a few things in the middle.

            There was a pile of pillows in the middle of the room. Steven was sitting on it next to Ruby, looking through what looked to be a photo album.

            “They got fed up with hearing his noise. I think this is the only room that isn’t monitored anymore.”

            “Steven!” She ran towards him, more tears coming out of her eyes as she reached him and hugged him before awkwardly putting him down in a combination of sniffling and laughing. “Are you okay?”

            He smiled. “Did Lapis get you out?” He asked.

            She sat down across from him, her legs folded under her. “Yeah she did.”

            “She told me about that! She told me there was a plan to get everyone out!” He smile was broad as he tried to explain it. “She said you were going to get out and that we were going to find Sapphire and Amethyst and maybe we could finally go back to Earth!” He stopped talking suddenly and looked around, confused. “Hey where’s Amethyst?”

            “Um,” She paused for a moment.

            “Argh!” Ruby rolled over on the pillows, her fingers pressed into the sides of her heads. “I still can’t see where she is!”

            “It’s always good to see you, Ruby.” Pearl said kindly, laying her hand over hers.

            “I still don’t trust her.” She folded her arms across her chest, glaring at Lapis. She glanced away and then quietly walked to the other side of Steven, sitting down next to him.

            Lapis sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m still trying to find out where Sapphire is, but I haven’t had any luck. They must want her for something or she would’ve been in a cell too.”

            “So are we supposed to wait in here?” Pearl asked, looking at the book Steven was flipping through. “Is Steven getting food? He’s not like us, he needs to eat…”

            “I’ve been handling it.”

            Ruby was still sitting there quietly, the shadow of a scowl on her face. Suddenly her eyes widened and it seemed like her face paled as she sucked in a breath. “Ruby?”

            “I can’t see.” She whispered.

            “Ruby, we’re going to find Sapphire and it’s going to be alright.”

            “No _I_ can’t see but _she_ can. They want her because she can see.”

            The room fell completely silent for a moment. “They have Sapphire?” Steven asked, looking at them. “Do they have Amethyst too?”

            “I think so.” Lapis said, standing up. “I need to go and check in with the Yellow Diamond and let her know that everything is alright. I think I might be able to find out where Ruby or Sapphire is. Maybe. I don’t know, but I’m going to try.” The three of them looked at her. “I promise I’m going to try.”

            “Thank you.” Pearl said quietly. Lapis stood up and nodded and then silently walked out of the room.

 

* * *

 

            “That deal still stands, Amethyst.” The Yellow Diamond was sitting on a throne, her legs crossed as she absently drummed her fingers. “We could still use you.”

            “What are you going to do to Pearl?” She asked, her voice shaking.

            “There’s thousands of Pearls around here, you have to be more specific.” She laughed a little and looked at her nails.

            “You know exactly which Pearl I’m talking about.”

            “Well I’m thinking we could shatter her.” She glanced behind her and looked at Jasper, who shrugged. “Or we could add her to the rest of the Pearls on Homeworld and have her working for me.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter much to me.”

            “How does it not matter to you?” Amethyst asked. “How does it just _not matter_? I mean, I still can’t really wrap my mind around this how you can just dispose of individuals so carelessly. It seems reckless, and ruthless which I guess is a good quality for tyrants so maybe that’s good for you. But how do you feel no regret when you shatter them? How do you not have their voices haunt you all the time? I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want that on my hands.”

            The Yellow Diamond sat straight up in the chair, her hands clutching the armrests and her eyes glowing. Amethyst took a step back, her hand over her gem as a precaution.

            “Your Pearl is a _defect_.” She spat. “She is a defect and a joke. I don’t see how she matters so much to you! The idea is completely insane! By default that would make you insane! You are all defects in the end; the fact that you’re still in my presence is also absolutely insane. So I will say this again, the deal still stands but not for much longer. You take it and live, or reject it and die.”

            “I’d rather die for the right reasons than live as a traitor.” She said and shouldered her way past the guards and into the hallway. The moment she stepped out of the room, she realized she had no idea where she was going, no direction, and no idea where anyone was.

            She also realized they would probably want to hunt her down.

            She ran down a hallway going in the opposite direction, taking every turn she came upon until her path twisted so much it seemed like it would be almost impossible to follow.

            At the end of one of the hallways was a set of large doors covered in yellow diamonds. A camera was mounted on the will at the top of the hallway. She lowered herself to the ground and slipped past it. She stood up in front of the doors, hands locked around the handles. In one move she pulled the doors open.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you for the next update on Thursday!  
> You can find me at machinerisms.tumblr.com or stickfigurepearlmethyst.tumblr.com


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Pearlmethursday everyone!   
> Thursdays are official update days now, with some updates in between if I'm feeling inspired or I feel like it might be nessecary.

            “What can you see?” That was the first thing she heard. _What can you see?_ Was that supposed to be rhetorical or were they actually asking her what she could see? Her eye was closed anyways, so she really couldn’t see much of anything other than the… _oh_.

            “Nothing.” It was a lie, she could see where everyone was, what was happening, she could see time as it stretched out in front of her. She didn’t want to see it right now, or go for clarity, but lying seemed as good of an option as any when she opened her eyes and confirmed her suspicions. They had been captured.

            “You’re lying!” Peridot threw her hands in the air and glared at her before pacing behind Jasper and Yellow Diamond who were both staring at her. “Of course you can see stuff! What are you even talking about?”

            Yellow Diamond’s lips pursed and she glanced from Peridot to her again and back to Peridot before sighing and looking back at her. “What do you see?” Her voice was clinical like you would expect surgeon’s to be, except more like heels hitting marble.

            “I mean I can see you.” She said, testing to see how far it would take for them to get frustrated and poof her again, or maybe just shatter her entirely. The second thought sat like a rock in her mind and she glanced back and forth between the three gems.

            “This could be entirely useless.” Jasper said. “Even if she did tell us something she could be lying.”

            “Or she could provide us with useful information! Don’t question me.” Yellow Diamond said, then glanced at her and smiled. “We’ll be back later.”

            What she couldn’t hear when they walked away and left her in the cell was the command “Find the other one.” Hissed under Yellow Diamond’s breath.

 

* * *

 

            _Maybe it would’ve been easier if she hadn’t come back. Maybe._

_Maybe it would’ve been easier, but when has something being easy been right? Never. If it was easy something was probably horribly wrong. That’s not why she came back, she came back for Steven and for Pearl and Garnet and everything they had fought for the first time around. She came back because if it came down to fighting them again, she didn’t want to make it any worse. She didn’t want to fight against them and they wouldn’t want to fight against her and that would’ve been a precarious situation. A potentially precarious situation._

_Maybe it would’ve been easier if she hadn’t told Pearl what had actually happened and just let it go. Told her that she was camping or something ridiculous along those lines. Even then, what good would it have done? It would’ve made things worse because when the warp pad had started glowing they had been able to hide Steven. They had been able to keep him safe and that was always to goal, keep him safe no matter what the cost._

_She had told Pearl and what shocked her was that instead of getting upset, instead of yelling at her, asking why she had done something so foolish, she had told her that it was going to be okay. That they would never be able to force her off of Earth and that she would never leave her alone. It was a hollow promise; they both knew that because no matter how much they promised each other that nothing bad would ever happen, there was a war going on. She didn’t have to be told that bad things happen all the time in wars._

_The gesture meant so much to her, though. Despite knowing the real truth behind it, the gesture was sincere and if she could’ve promised it for real she knew she would’ve._

_The goal was to keep Steven safe. That was the plan. Should anything happen Steven had to stay safe, someone had to keep him safe because it was terrifying to think what would happen when they captured him thinking they had captured Rose. They would expect him to remember things he didn’t truly know about and what could he do? He was part human; he could die because she honestly wasn’t sure if this ship had oxygen because it wasn’t always necessary to breathe for them. She wasn’t sure if they would realize he had to sleep and eat and function as a human because while no one said it out loud they had all thought to themselves at one point that he was more human than a gem and maybe he would never fully grow into what they expected of him. Maybe that was just the case and that was how it was meant to be._

_If that was just how it was meant to be then that would mean that they would just live with it. They would work around it, they would do something and they wouldn’t leave him to fend for himself against an enemy he couldn’t even remember. No matter who or what Steven turned out to be he meant more to them than she could ever want someone to mean to her. That was in a good way._

_It hadn’t always been like that, though. When he was first born Pearl was practically absent. She was there physically, but mentally she was gone. She was somewhere else entirely. She hadn’t known what to do, Garnet trying to deal with Pearl and Steven at the same time and she had felt useless so she had just left. Hung out with normal people for a while, trying to forget how useless she felt and every problem that they were dealing with._

_What had happened in the beginning wasn’t important. What was important now was him and that was what mattered. Maybe it would’ve been easier if she hadn’t come back or she hadn’t told Pearl, but that doesn’t mean that it would’ve been easier for everyone. She had the greater good to think of, she had everything to think of when she made that decision. Maybe in the short term it wasn’t turning out so great for them, but in the long run it might matter. The little things might matter._

_All she could do was think of the greater good._

* * *

 

            “Lapis!” She winced and then rushed towards Jasper, not meeting her eyes.

            “Yes?” _There’s no water in space_ , she reminded herself and straightened her back a little.

            “The other one.” She started aimlessly waving her hand trying to think of the word. “There were two short ones, what was the other one’s name?”

            “The other one?”

            “There’s a blue one and a red one, what were their names?”

            “Sapphire?” She suggested, hearing the name tossed around a few times between Pearl and Ruby.

            “No we have that one already. I’m talking about the one she was fused with.” Her eyes widened. Ruby had been right; they had taken Sapphire straight to them presumably for her ability to see the future.

            “Ruby?” She asked, cautiously hoping that it wouldn’t ring any bells for the larger gem.

            “That’s it!” She tried not to change her face based on her emotions. “We need that one, as soon as you can.”

            “Why?” She asked cautiously, trying to coax more information out of her.

            “We can’t seem to get the other one, the blue one to really say anything. We were hoping to bribe it out of her or something, I mean I don’t know what Yellow Diamond’s got in her head but…” She paused. “Just go find her and bring her to us.”

            “Yes.” She squeaked out and exited the room. This couldn’t possibly end well.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always you can find me at machinerisms.tumblr.com or stickfigurepearlmethyst.tumblr.com  
> (Just keep in mind that machinerisms is my main blog and I use it wayyyy more than the other one.)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is a day late! Yesterday was super busy for me and I couldn't get around to updating. Because I forgot to update yesterday I ended up making this one hella long and all from like the same point of view for the most part. Thank you for the continued support!

            Amethyst didn’t get to open the doors. Her hands were locked around the handles and when she pulled an alarm went off. It wasn’t like the smoke detectors that she often set off in the house on Earth with her terrible cooking attempts, it was a horrible screeching sound that sounded like someone with an incredibly high voice range was stabbed.

            She sank to the ground and covered her ears as the screech continued. The sound kept getting louder and louder, but she couldn’t tell if it was entirely in her head anymore. She had practically passed out on the floor when strong arms grabbed hers and dragged her away from the doors.

            _What was behind the doors?_ Her thoughts trailed off as she continued to be dragged on the floor by the mystery person. The screaming had long stopped, but her ears were still ringing with the sound.

            _They’d never let me get away_. That was her next thought as she was dragged around another corner. This whole ship had cameras, what was she even thinking, just running like that. They had eyes everywhere. That was the first thing Pearl had told her when she began to talk about what Homeworld was like. Pearl had talked about the amount of secrecy they had used, because they had eyes everywhere.

            _Pearl._ As her head quieted more thoughts poured in. What had they done with Pearl? Was she all right? She half consciously remembered yelling about her, fighting over whether or not she was worth it. Of course Pearl was worth it, it was a stupid notion that she wouldn’t be. She had to get back to her, apologize to her at least, and clear up everything that had happened. She needed to tell her that she was sorry and that she had never meant to drag her back into this mess, that she had never wanted to get involved with what Rose had started because no matter how hard she tried she could never truly be able to continue what they had started. No matter how long she lived on Earth she would never be able to understand what they were fighting for.

            There were so many Pearls. Homeworld was full of Pearls, each equally as dispensable as the last. Is that what they were fighting for? None of them had ever bothered to truly explain to her what had happened in great detail, they had told her they were fighting for Earth and what was right. She assumed whatever Earth was was right, but maybe that’s not all there was to it. Maybe they were fighting because of gems like Pearl who didn’t have a say or a place.

            “Pearl.” She mumbled, half coherently, thinking about how Yellow Diamond had talked about it. The way she had shrugged it off like it wasn’t even a matter of discussion when it was. What was to happen to Pearl? Was she to go back to what she was before all of this had started? She could never imagine Pearl as anything less than she was, anything less than someone who would fight against all odds and against everyone’s wishes. She couldn’t imagine Pearl as anyone less stubborn and less intelligent than she was.

            “What did you say?” The voice asked, setting her down.

            She tried to sit up, but her head was spinning. “What the hell was that noise?” She muttered. “God it sounded like someone was getting murdered.”

            “Thank goodness you’re alright, they’ve been looking for you, but first I need your help.”

            Her eyes were shut so she couldn’t truly see who was talking. “Who’s looking for me? Yellow Diamond? Seriously tell me something I don’t know.”

            “Amethyst your friends are looking for you! Well not actively looking for you, they can’t really I mean I’ve kind of turned into their eyes and ears and everything but they’re looking for you. Anyways I need your help.”

            “Do you mind telling me who you are I still haven’t opened my eyes.”

            “It’s Lapis.” She said and Amethyst’s eyes flew open, staring at her.

            “What are you doing here?” She asked, propping herself up successfully. “I thought you were working for them.”

            “You don’t really have a reason to trust me.” She started.

            “No I really don’t have any reason to trust you! What the hell do you mean my friends are looking for me?”

            “I don’t really have a lot of time to explain.” She glanced around the hallway nervously. “They have the small blue one, Sapphire I think. Ruby said something about her being to be able to see the future and they’re holding her hostage to see if they can try and get information out of her, but she’s not talking and is probably not going to so they sent me out to find Ruby and bring her to them. I don’t know what their intentions are, but I can’t think any of them are good so I need you to help me get Sapphire out of there.”

            “How do I know you’re not luring me into a trap?” She was wary of the other gem.

            “I don’t know, Steven sings a lot and it’s cute. He sings well. He has this song about you that he sang to me once and it was very nice it was all about you guys saving Earth and stuff.”

            “You could’ve picked that up from when you were in the mirror.”

            “Jesus Christ, Amethyst!” She said, her hands digging into her hair. “What do you want me to tell you?”

            “So you picked up swearing from the mirror too?”

            “Amethyst can’t you just cooperate and trust me?” Lapis was clearly trying not to yell but failing miserably as she let her frustration get the better of her.

            “You have to take me to them first.”

            “I can’t do that! I’m putting all of you at risk if I do that! I thought it might be you or Sapphire when that alarm was tripped so I volunteered to shut it off while I was out looking for Ruby and _we are wasting time._ The more time we waste the more time they have where they can find all of you and punish you worse than you’re already going to be. I’m not sure what to tell you!”

            “Fine. What’s the plan?” Amethyst asked begrudgingly.

            “Like I said, we’re losing time. I’ll explain it on the way, but you need to get up.”

            Lapis pulled Amethyst off the floor and Amethyst stumbled to her feet. “This better work.”

            “There’s a ventilation shaft,” Lapis started, but Amethyst cut her off.

            “Okay I’m going to ask you a very important question do you honestly think I can fit in a ventilation shaft comfortably?”

            “Like I was saying I need you to open the ventilation shaft because at the bottom of that ventilation shaft is the engine of the ship. Now this ship is a little older so it has an engine that runs on hydrogen. We use the hydrogen from the water to power the ship and then pump the oxygen into the rest of it. If you can get the vent open I can control the water and pull it out. When excess amounts of water leave the vat all sorts of alarms go off because that means something is wrong with the engine. Now Yellow Diamond is going to freak out and call all of the Peridots she keeps on the ship to come and fix this and in the confusion we can grab your friend and get out.”

            “Why do you need me for this plan?”

            “I’m not tall enough to reach the vent and I need to stand on someone’s shoulders!” She admitted, dragging Amethyst down a stairwell. “Also I don’t think Sapphire would believe me if only I showed up and we _need_ to get her out of there if you even remotely care about her safety.”

            “Is there anything else I should know before we start this plan? Maybe a little information regarding Steven? Is he alright?”

            “They know he’s not Rose Quartz.”

            “How?”

            “Jasper interrogated him for days, trying to figure out why Rose would choose such a weak form and realized that there’s no way Steven could be Rose. Yellow Diamond doesn’t care about him anymore, she’s moved on to the real problem now.”

            “What’s the real problem?”

            “The people who would still support Rose like you. She needs to wipe out her opposition.”

            “But Steven is safe?”

            She nodded and then stopped in front of a huge door with a keypad on it. She typed in a code and they slipped into the small room.

            There wasn’t any light in the room and it was smaller than their bathroom back at home. The air was thick and hot and Amethyst could barely see her hand as she watched the faint silhouette of Lapis walk into a corner and gesture her to come over.

            “I’m going to stand on your shoulder and remove the vent. We have to get out of here really fast after this.”

            “Alright.” Amethyst nodded and crouched down as Lapis stepped onto her shoulders and Amethyst stood up. Lapis teetered a little bit on the uneven area and then grabbed the bars of the grate and tugged a little bit with experimentation before putting all of her weight into it and pulling the grate clean out of the wall, taking a bit of the wall with it as it clattered to the ground.

            Amethyst tipped over trying to avoid and grate and Lapis fell to the ground next to her before nodding at Amethyst as she raised her arm and water came flying out of the hole in the wall, spilling onto the floor like a waterfall.

            “We need to get out!” Lapis shouted over the sound of rushing water before grabbing Amethyst’s hand and dragging her out the door before sprinting down an adjacent hallway.

            Amethyst was panting by the time they had reached another huge set of double doors, the one where she had talked to Yellow Diamond before. There was screaming coming from down the hall and Lapis ripped open the doors before they frantically ran into the room, splitting up into different corners.

            “Sapphire!” Amethyst called, glancing down small one-way hallways. “Sapphire where are you?”

            “Amethyst?” The voice was quiet and Amethyst turned around and saw Sapphire leaning against the back wall of a cell like hers. “Is everyone okay?”

            “Aren’t you supposed to be able to see that kind of stuff?” Amethyst joked and then glanced around. “Lapis! I’ve got her!”

            Lapis turned the corner, her eyes wide. “They came back!” She hissed, glancing from Sapphire to Amethyst. “We need to hide you!”

            Amethyst was pushed into a closet across from Sapphire and Lapis turned towards Sapphire and began to pretend to lecture her. Amethyst watched through a crack in the door as she saw different feet pass by rapidly and then slow down. She held her breath, hoping that no one would open the closet door and find her here. It would be all over if they found her.

            “She tried to escape.” She heard Lapis say to someone. “When I heard the engine room alarms I came back here.”

            “What about the other alarm?” It was Jasper.

            “It was a false alarm, I fixed it.”

            “You should’ve asked for one of the Peridots to fix it, I bet you did it wrong!”

            “Setting an alarm isn’t rocket science.”     

            There was a bit of a disgruntled sigh. “Being on Earth for so long changed you.” Jasper huffed before storming off.

            Amethyst let out a sigh of relief and then the door opened. Her heart sped up for a second before realizing it was Lapis. Lapis yanked her out wordlessly and then punched in a code next to Sapphire’s cell and dragged her out too. Before Amethyst had a chance to warn Lapis, Sapphire grabbed both of them and began to move full speed out of the room and down the hallways.

            They stopped in front of huge doors.

            “How did you know they were here?” Lapis panted and Sapphire stopped and looked at both of them wordlessly.

            “Didn’t they tell you? I see time as it stretched out before me.” She smiled a little bit.

            “They’re behind here, right?” Amethyst confirmed, eyeing Lapis.

            “They’re all here.” Lapis said, nodding and Sapphire opened the doors.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always you can find me at:  
> machinerisms.tumblr.com (Main blog if u wanna see my posts this is where you go)  
> stickfigurepearlmethyst.tumblr.com (Side blog that I hardly use sorry)  
> Thanks!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short, short update and it's because I've decided I'm updating almost everything for Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

            Everyone in one room. It was overwhelming for one, everyone suddenly together in one room on a spaceship hurtling through space and hiding from the other gems on the ship. It made Pearl’s head hurt, that was for certain. It was certainly a tedious and draining situation and maybe she should try to go to sleep to try and forget about it, but _she can’t_ and as much as she wants to she stays awake and Steven is asleep on the floor and Garnet is back together and Amethyst is here and Lapis is god knows where, but they’re all here. They’re all here and Pearl’s head hurts.

            “You alright?” Amethyst asks quietly, nudging her. She’s propped up against a wall, her eyes half open. Amethyst’s voice is soft and almost dusty sounding, almost how you would expect an old book to sound if it could talk.

            “Mm, I’m fine. Go back to sleep.”

            “No, you’re not sleeping. Are you okay?”

            “I don’t _need_ to sleep Amethyst. This isn’t a big deal. Don’t worry about it.”

            Amethyst propped herself up on her elbows and looked at Pearl, her purple hair a disheveled mess and falling in her eyes. “You should try to sleep, you look like you’ve been through the ringer.” Amethyst smiled a little bit, but it disappeared when she saw Pearl take a deep sigh and lean her head back, taking a long blink. Her hands were shaking a little bit as Amethyst took them in her hands and looked at Pearl again. “Pearl, what’s wrong?”

            “What if they come back for Steven when we’re sleeping? What if they come for us? What’s going to happen then?”

            “Pearl,” Amethyst sat up next to Pearl, still holding her hands. “Would it help if I stayed awake and let you sleep?”

            “What if something happens? What if something happens to Steven?”

            “Nothing is going to happen and if anything does, I’ll wake you up.”

‘           Pearl leaned her head on Amethyst’s shoulder and took a deep breath. “Thank you.” She whispered and she let her eyes close.

            “For staying awake? Don’t worry about it.”

            “No, thank you.”

            “For what?”

            “For being here. For not hating me.”

            “Why would I hate you?”

            “For not being able to protect you the first time.”

            “Hey, Pearl that’s not your fault.”

            “What if it is?”

            “It isn’t, don’t worry about it.”

            Pearl pressed more towards Amethyst’s body, letting her hair fall over her face. She could feel Amethyst’s breathing against her body and they fell silent for a few moments. They let the silence hold between them and stay there and hold them in that moment.

            “I’m sorry I kissed you.” Amethyst said.

            “What?”

            “On the beach. I’m sorry.”

            “Why are you sorry?”

            “’Cause now we’re here.” Amethyst sniffed and little and then sighed.

            “We’d be here one way or another, it’s not fair to put it all on yourself.”

            “But it’s my fault, it’s always been my fault.”

            “Amethyst.” Pearl sat up and turned Amethyst’s head to look at her. “It’s not your fault.”

            “Not my fault.” Amethyst repeated quietly.

            “Not your fault.”

            Amethyst smiled a little and like it was in slow motion leaned forward and kissed Pearl.

            And Pearl kissed her back.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me at machinerisms.tumblr.com


End file.
